


The Five Stages of Time Travel

by tjstar



Series: (un)adopted [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse Prevented, Gen, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, No Incest, Post-Canon Fix-It, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, The Commission, Time Travel, klaus snaps, klaus/dave mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26947552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjstar/pseuds/tjstar
Summary: “I need you,” Five says.And Klaus says,“I know. You alwaysneed mewhen shit’s too fucked and you don’t have anyone to blame.”
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: (un)adopted [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917556
Comments: 22
Kudos: 237





	The Five Stages of Time Travel

“So you don’t remember who did it?”

“No, I don’t, do you _really_ think I could see anything?”

“But there should still be something…”

“Can you _please_ leave me alone? Please?”

Klaus covers his ears with his hands as his siblings keep tormenting him with questions. 

“There _is_ something,” Five shoves his hand into his pocket. “This,” he takes out a bullet. Klaus can swear he notices a drop of his blood on it.

“You offer to run ballistics?” asks Diego. “I don’t think I can help…”

“You heard it,” Klaus turns to him. “The gunshot. While you were in the shower, right? And technically, we’re on TV again as criminals, well, you, all of you,” Klaus points his finger at each sibling. “Except for me, because I’m _dead,”_ he chuckles, his throat hurts. 

They’re hunted, wanted, haunted, hiding in an empty warehouse and having a “family” meeting there. 

“Diego?”

Diego scratches his neck, hesitating.

“I heard it. Of course. I thought…” he twists the knife between his fingers. “I thought I’d be fast enough to stop whoever was there, but when I rushed to the room, there was only… Klaus.” 

“Right,” Klaus nods. “Which means, my killer was: _a)_ a very fast bitch, and _b)_ a professional. And I only know _one_ bastard who matches these qualities.”

“You’re not saying it’s _Five,_ are you?” Allison thumps him on the shoulder.

“I’m not saying anything,” Klaus smiles at her. “We all know that our Five is the sweetest and the kindest guy who hasn’t made a single mistake in his life.”

Five puts the bullet back into his pocket. 

“You know I’d never —”

“No worries, I know. And you’d _never_ do it just to make sure it won’t work.”

“Stop it,” Luther grumbles. 

“Not the right time to play a peacemaker, brother,” Klaus winks at him. He can’t even wink properly, it’s just a tic in his eyelid. “How do we solve problems these days? Ending the world? That’s right! No offence, Vanya.”

Allison grabs him by the sleeve, pulling him back.

“Why are you bringing this up _now?”_

“Am I not allowed?”

It’s hard to breathe all of the sudden. 

“He… He just died,” Vanya instantly turns into the shy kid Klaus thought he knew. “Just like Ben. Just like everyone. Because of me.”

“Oh, I didn’t want it to take such a dramatic turn,” Klaus groans. “Can we just skip it and get back to our usual themes? Mass murder, anyone?”

“Shut up,” Five hisses. A rock crunches under his shoe as he takes a step towards Klaus. 

“Says a man who carries around a bullet that pierced my brain,” Klaus rolls his eyes. “Face it, I’m the only one who tries to think rationally.” 

Five clutches the bullet in his fist again.

“And what your rational side tells you?”

“To adjust?”

All Klaus hears is a collective sigh.

“What? What did I do wrong again?”

“No, it’s…” Five looks at the bullet on his palm. “I just have an idea.” 

“If this _idea_ involves time travel again, then count me out, brother dear.”

“Not exactly, but I can’t take all of you until I fix everything.”

Five looks through them, all of them until Allison waves her hand in front of his face.

“Five? What do you mean?”

“I’ve done some research — it turns out that taking only two people while blinking without a briefcase works better than taking six. Well, even if one of them is a ghost. Allison, I might need your powers.”

Five’s voice cracks.

Allison shakes her head.

“I’m not doing it anymore.”

“I said _I might,”_ Five looks up at her. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

“Wait, wait a second,” Diego pipes in. “Are you really _choosing_ now?”

Five jerks his shoulders.

“Yeah. Klaus?”

“Could you please explain?”

“I don’t have time!”

“Of course you don’t,” Allison chuckles. “You just keep using us, and… And manipulating. When we literally lost _everyone_ we ever loved.”

Five’s eyes gleam with a familiar fire of a twisted excitement. 

“What if there’s still a chance?” 

“Who are you, and what did you do to my brother?”

Klaus walks past him, wandering aimlessly, feeling trapped and lonely, no ghosts in sight. Maybe getting back to life is equal to a dose of some synthetic shit, or maybe he’s finally succeeding at taming his powers. 

Five doesn’t let him go. 

“I need you,” Five says.

And Klaus says,

“I know. You always _need me_ when shit’s too fucked and you don’t have anyone to blame.” 

“In case you forgot, we’re still criminals in this timeline,” Luther adds. “We should leave this town.”

“Don’t you think we’re too noticeable to just leave the town?” Diego argues, a knife is balanced on his palm. “We should lay low for a while and then find a local police department and…”

Vanya stops him before he finishes.

“We’re not breaking in!”

“That’s not what I said,” Diego mumbles. 

“Do you even hear yourselves?” Five hunches his back and stomps his foot like an arrogant child. “Vanya — too powerful and unpredictable, Diego — is already on the Commission’s blacklist, Luther… I’d probably take you with me, but I’m better in blinking with smaller… Objects.”

Klaus sighs,

“I’d prefer to get called useless again.”

“I’m not taking you back if you fail me,” Five says with the shit-eating grin on his face. “Allison?” he outstretches his hand. 

Allison swallows hard and takes it. 

Klaus screws his eyes shut, afraid that they can just pop out of the sockets. He thinks that Five is really out of options now, choosing to work with a pregnant woman and a concussed immortal man. Five doesn’t warn them as he does his thing: there’s a flash, a pop, and Klaus’ eyes burn from the pressure building up inside of his beaten brain. He still can’t get his vision back as he catches Allison when her knees bend, and she gasps, squeezing the life out of his arm.

“You alright?”

Five sounds concerned. Luckily, there’s the wall behind Klaus’ back, and he leans against it, learning to breathe again and finally cracking his eyelids open.

“Allison?”

“I’m fine,” she winces. “It’s just… The force.”

“I heaved my lungs up when I landed in the sixties,” Klaus rubs her back sympathetically. 

Allison’s breathing steadies, she lets go of Klaus’ hand.

“Where are we?”

“The Commission headquarter,” Five replies. “We need to hurry up.”

“Where are we going?” Klaus massages his temple; it feels like he got kicked in the head again.

Five doesn’t seem to care about his pain, walking away.

“To the briefcase room.”

“And you need me because?..”

Five turns around, staring at Klaus as if he’s seen a ghost.

“Because they can still kill me, and I need somebody to get our family back to our timeline.” 

There’s no way they can get their bearings, because Five is always rushing, always on the run, always in the middle of something. And Klaus sways when he takes a step away from this lovely white wall.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Allison nods. 

“I hate it when he’s doing… This.”

“Come on!” Five waves at them. 

Traveling without the briefcase is the worst — Five’s adapted to it, probably; at least, he’s not showing any signs of ailment. He must’ve miscalculated again, teleporting them into the backyard instead of the briefcase room directly. So they follow him, Allison doesn’t look like she’s about to throw up anymore, Klaus doesn’t annoy her with the questions she definitely doesn’t want to reply. He eventually feels a bit better too, his body gets used to the jump through time and space. 

“Is the Handler still dead?” he asks. 

Five pushes a massive door open. 

“Should be.”

“Wait, you mean you’re _not_ sure?” Allison tries to stop Five, but he shakes her hand off his shoulder. 

“The only thing I’m certain about is that we have to get that damn briefcase and end this shitshow.”

Five’s literally buzzing, pumped with energy, he’s about to explode. Klaus is still in denial, his brain sloshes around his skull like a jelly, and Five’s pessimistic mood gets on his nerves. Neither of them should be there, and Five just keeps playing his little games with big consequences. 

They enter the building, all cold marble and endless staircases; all busy people running up and down, holding paper clippers and wearing cartoonish masks. They don’t look at Five, at them, deep in their thoughts. This is not how Klaus imagined the Commission office; he thought it would look more modern, filled with fancy electronics and robot assistants, and he’s disappointed, so disappointed. 

“Did Diego really work there?” 

Allison smiles with the corner of her mouth.

“Just for a few hours?” 

“Did he even get his paycheck for that time?” 

Klaus just needs distraction. He can’t smoke here, he can’t keep poisoning Allison; he looks around, but all he sees is wooden railings and Five’s hunched back. He takes the bullet again, squeezes it in his hand as if he wants to melt it like a chunk of butter; Klaus touches a metaphorical hole in his forehead, expecting to see blood on his fingertips again. But there’s just sweat, a headache blooming, growing more violent. He sees bodies hanging on the railings, he sees the ghosts dressed in strict suits, faces covered with the masks.

He wants it to be over, he’s angry and helpless as panic rises up in his chest; there’s no salvation, they’re going to keep following him everywhere. 

Five stops next to the door. He knocks, knocks once more, but it remains closed.

“Are we… Just going to break in, grab the briefcase and blink back to reunite with the others?” 

Of course, Klaus doesn’t expect Five to say _yes._

“No,” Five balls up his fists and disappears in a flash of a blue light. 

Allison gasps,

“Did he just…”

The door opens, and Five whispers,

“Come here.”

Klaus’ jaw drops as they enter the room — there are monitors on the walls, and there’s the switchboard with blinking diodes and shining buttons, with wires and sockets, looking like the spaceship control room. 

“What is this?” he’s amazed, mesmerized like a kitten staring at the Christmas lights. 

“That’s where the analysts watch the flow of the time,” Five says. “Past, present, future, all there,” he presses a few buttons and connects the wires. “And I’m interested in _one_ certain day,” he frowns, peering into one of the monitors.

Klaus looks over Five’s shoulder.

“One day?”

“This machine calculates the possibilities of changing the timeline relying on current events,” Five explains as a black and white picture appears on the screen. “And _our_ event would be…”

“My death,” Klaus finishes for him.

They watch the footage from the hotel; Klaus shivers as he sees himself lying on the bed. The quality is low, all grainy mess of pixels, but he can still see a white flash and a man with the briefcase in his hand appearing in the room. He’s holding a gun, he’s pressing the barrel to Klaus’ forehead and pulling the trigger; Klaus sees himself open his eyes and jerk forward a little, but then,

Then he dies. 

“Oh, my God,” Allison clamps her palm over her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. “Five?”

On the screen, the man opens the briefcase, leaving Klaus lay on the bed in a pool of his own blood. Klaus remembers that man although he’s only seen a glimpse of him, in _their_ 2019 — he was getting younger and younger falling out of the funnel in the sky. Same hat, same mustache, same emotionless face — Klaus couldn’t memorize all the details, and the video didn’t show all of them as well. Klaus turns away in disgust; there’s the white noise on the monitor, his life’s over, the footage is over.

“You knew, right?” he asks Five. 

Five hands him a bullet; Klaus wants to throw it away, he’s not a fan of holding his own death in his palm. But then he takes it as a deadly souvenir. He can’t believe it, bargaining, his own brother killed him, his heart’s about to _stop_ again.

“I recognized the bullet as soon as I saw it,” Five says. “When Luther and I met my other self, we sent him to 2019, but apparently that timeline was wrong, and he was trying to figure out how to make things right. And… Well, the other _me,_ he made a calculation and came to the conclusion that _killing you_ would fix the timeline for all of his siblings’ alternative versions,” he heaves out a sigh. “He… The different me, he knew that you’re immortal, that’s why he did it. You get back, I find the bullet and get the whole thing right.”

He wants to add something else, but Allison doesn’t let him.

“How can you be so sure about that?”

“Because I came to the exact same conclusion. Klaus’ death is always temporary, but a few minutes is enough to trick the timeline. And he, well, _I_ started it all for us. Look,” he connects a red wire to the monitor and flicks the switcher. “That’s what happens when we get the right briefcase,” he points at the screen: there’s Allison hugging Claire in what looks like a backstage dressing room. “See? We can fix it.”

Allison puts her hand on her stomach. 

“But what about Ray?” 

Five shakes his head. 

“We can’t take him with us.”

If they make it to their timeline, to their 2019, that would mean that Dave will be dead again. And, if Klaus could really send him into the light, he’ll never see his love again; it hurts, his chest aches, he tried so hard to save him, but he failed anyway. Words scrape his throat, but he swallows them down, he realizes that he doesn’t belong here, the sparrows are not their family, and they will never be their family. Not even Ben. Klaus misses him. He suddenly misses everyone, he wants to get back, he wants to hide in his room and get drunk. Or high. They can’t stop him anyway, _he can’t even die of overdose!_

But he’d rather be unhappy and hangover in the right timeline. 

“So… You mean that if we transmit ourselves to our 2019, it repairs everything? Like, nothing explodes and the Moon will still be shining?” 

Five taps his fingers against the desk.

“That’s what I’m saying.” 

“Well, we don’t have any other option then,” Allison heads back to the door. “Where’s the briefcase?”

“I’ll show you,” Five blinks himself out of the switchboard room. 

“Hey, haven’t you been banned from all the secret levels of this lovely building?”

Five doesn’t bother himself to answer Klaus.

*** 

Of course, Five _has been_ banned from all the secret levels. 

There’s the red light pouring down from the ceiling, the alarms are screeching, and people flooding the hallway before they can get to the briefcase room; there are the rifles aimed at their chests, and Klaus is almost sure he’s going to die again.

“I need to get the briefcase,” Five pants, ripping the gun out of the agent’s hands. “Hold on!” 

“How do you expect us to fight them, bitch?!” Klaus screams, grabbing Allison’s hand and running down the hall under the hail of the gunshots. 

_He can’t let them hurt her, he can’t, he has to take a weapon, he can’t force her to use her powers, it’s not right, not right —_

“Allison!”

Klaus falls, knocked to the floor and yanked upright by the agents instantly; they’re not going to kill them, not now, at least. 

“What’s next?” he hisses out. “Gonna torture me for information? I don’t know shit, sir.” 

There’s the humming in his ears, he sees _more_ things than the others; the agents still can’t get Allison as she manages to get a rifle. A gun is pressed to Klaus’ chin, he laughs until the barrel makes him wheeze and sputter. 

“Let him go,” Allison demands. 

No one listens. 

“I said, let him…”

She elbows the agent behind her without looking at the yellow rabbit mask; but then she gets tackled down by the others, and Klaus looks at the horrifying scene, _Five, you’re a heartless prick —_

The barrel of a gun almost shatters his jaw as he screams; the agent’s shoe is about to connect with Allison’s stomach.

“I heard the rumor that you let us go!” 

She cries out, curled into herself, and the eyes of the maskless agents turn white; at the same time the ghosts get visible and tangible, and Klaus’ knees hit the floor. He crawls to Allison, he hugs her, trying not to let the blue glowing of his hands fade away. He can still hear the gunshots, either in reality or in his head only, he can feel Allison shake next to him as they huddle to the wall.

“You saved us,” Klaus squeezes her trembling hands. 

“I almost lost _everything,”_ she whispers. She looks at him intently, “you’re bleeding.”

“Huh?”

His right shoulder feels numb. He wants to check it, but he can’t avert his gaze from the battle in the hallway — the agents run away, chased by the ghosts, Klaus’ full potential finally unlocked. There are the dead agents in his army, his friends from Vietnam and some other ghosts he suddenly can control.

Allison’s cheeks are still wet, she wipes her tears with the sleeve. 

“How did you do that?” 

“I have no idea.” 

Klaus looks at the shapeless hole in his cardigan; there’s a shallow graze in his bicep, he didn’t even notice that he got shot. He does feel the pain now, burning his flesh, but he doesn’t have the time to focus on it as Five appears right in front of him. 

“I got this,” he points at the briefcase in his hand. “It’ll get us to the alley in Dallas on November 21st, 1963, and then straight to April 2nd, 2019, so buckle up. Now, it’s time to meet the others. Shit,” Five suddenly trails off, looking around. “Where’s the bodies?” 

“Did you expect a massacre?” Klaus snorts. “Sorry to disappoint, but we just made them run like rats leaving a sinking ship. You missed my showtime, dude.”

“Not interested anyway,” Five pulls at his sleeve. “Get ready. See? I’m warning now.” 

“Danke. You’re not helping, by the way. Okay, I think I’m ready,” Klaus clenches his teeth.

Allison takes his hand. 

“Let’s do this.”

Five doesn’t open the briefcase not to mess up its programming; he focuses hard, and the three of them get sucked into the whirlwind of light. 

*** 

Surprisingly, they find their siblings in the same warehouse — they look at the briefcase wide-eyed. 

“It’s been like two minutes,” Diego says. 

“It’s been a lot longer than that,” Five bites back. “It’s time to get out of here, get in the circle.”

“Are you sure it’s gonna fix the timeline?” Vanya asks, still holding her hands in her pockets. 

“Yes,” Five nods. “Come on, stand closer, hold onto each other as hard as you can.” 

“Yeah, we don’t want to get lost like _that one_ time, right?”

“Klaus!” 

“Everyone shut up and hold on!” 

With that, Five kicks the briefcase open. 

*** 

When Klaus blinks, he really sees that alley in Dallas, a dumpster and his dried vomit on the asphalt; it’s just a brief flash of an image, and then everything goes dark. 

All the sounds are muffled as if he’s floating underwater, but Klaus can still hear the shout of excitement,

“We did it!”

“April 2nd, we averted the Apocalypse!”

Klaus blinks his eyes open just to see Five’s portrait on the wall. 

“Thank God,” he moans, stumbling to the couch and falling down onto it. He peels his bloodied clothes off to look at the mess on his shoulder. It’s all scraped and bruised, but the wound doesn’t require stitches. He watches his siblings hug each other, he hears them ask if he needs to go to the hospital.

“Nah, I’m good.”

He just needs to take a long depression nap he’d prefer to call just a “beauty sleep” and then get the fuck out of the mansion. Reginald is dead, Mom and Pogo aren’t — Klaus is happy to see them alive and kicking, and Diego literally _beams_ as he offers Mom to cook dinner together. 

Klaus leaves his siblings downstairs and goes into his room, falling face first into the pillow; his shoulder stings, and the mansion is too cold to walk around shirtless, but he’s too tired to get the blanket. 

“Dave’s dead,” he mumbles. 

He doesn’t expect to hear an answer, 

“But he’s not mad at you.”

Klaus thinks he’s hallucinating; he ignores the pain in his muscles as he cranes his neck to look at,

“Shit.”

Ben.

Klaus is so confused he doesn’t know how to react; he thought he’d never get a chance to talk to Ben again, to explain everything to him. And now, now he’s stuck with him again.

“What is the last thing you remember?” Klaus blurts out.

“Um, you expelling me out of your body?”

Ben clearly doesn’t understand where their conversation is going — he’d still be there if they used their chance to get together on November 21st, 1963. _And they did it._

“Did we just… Travel back?” Ben looks around the bedroom. “And it worked? What happened to your arm?” 

“Well,” Klaus picks the scab with his fingernail. “We blew our chance to save the world, Five lost his shit, you and JFK died on the same day… Hey, don’t look at me like that! And think twice before possessing Vanya again. Don’t look at me like that,” Klaus almost giggles at how confused and disoriented Ben looks. “Diego worked for the Commission for an hour, Five stole the briefcase and threw us into the reality where you were the leader of some emo supervillains and Reggie’s Number One. Aged-up Five killed me to fix the timeline, and here we are, jazz hands!” he flops down onto his back. “I caught a cold a few days ago.”

For a second, Klaus is sure that Ben is about to slap him.

“A _cold?_ After all that, you end your speech like this?”

“When did you stop caring about my health, Benji?”

“If you were drunk while those things were happening, then I don’t believe you.”

Klaus shrugs.

“As you wish.”

He bites his tongue when he hears the knock on the door.

“Come in!”

He rubs his face, trying to look more alive and awake as Allison comes in. 

“I called Patrick,” she says. “I’m flying to meet Claire tomorrow, can you believe it?” 

She’s glowing again, looking so happy it makes Klaus feel better. 

“That’s… That’s amazing, Ally,” he stammers out as she lays down next to him.

“Thank you for keeping my secret,” she gently places a palm on her belly. “It’s a boy. My extraordinary Raymond-junior.” 

“How do you know it’s a boy?”

Allison smiles.

“I just know. Also…” she turns to him. “If you don’t have other plans, will you fly to LA with me?”

Klaus chokes on his spit.

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. I’ll invite the others when I’m ready to tell them.”

“Never stop surprising me,” Klaus yawns, sitting up. “Uh, there’s somebody out there who wants to say hi.”

He knows he’s not gonna be able to keep Ben tangible for more than a few minutes, but he owes him, after all. 

“Ben?!”

“Hi, Allison.”

She hugs him, and Ben smiles at her, hugs her back.

“That’s impossible,” Allison whispers. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed _you all_ so much,” Ben whispers back. 

Klaus is going to manifest him once again at the dinner table since Ben doesn’t want to believe that things Klaus told him about actually happened. And, there’s one more thing,

“Oh no,” Klaus fake gasps. “Now we’re gonna have to kill you! You know too much!”

Ben doesn’t even look at him, just informing him,

“I hate you.”

“No worries, Ally, he’s gonna take your secret to his grave.”

“I still hate you,” Ben repeats.

“I know my puns are terrible, but that’s how I show love, bear with me,” Klaus sighs. “Okay, siblings’ time’s over, I haven’t slept in forever.” 

“We finally saved the world,” says Allison. “Have a good nap.”

Klaus feels weird when she leaves; now he has Ben again, now he knows that his death wasn’t his fault.

“Hey, Ben.”

“What again?”

“Why did you stay?”

“Because I was scared. I didn’t want to leave,” Ben sits down in the armchair next to Klaus’ bed. “I… Got used to it.”

“I’ll give you as much independence as I can,” Klaus promises, closing his eyes. 

“I believe you.”

Klaus can feel it. 

The stages of time travel are similar to the five stages of grief. 

He accepts that. 

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to ren and blackwolf066 for helping me figure out the old five thing!!  
> \---  
> my tumblr: @i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky  
> \---  
> thanks for reading!  
> comments/thoughts/theories are very appreciated <3


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